With his career on the line, the popular 29-year-old from Barnsley managed to grind out an exciting unanimous decision in a hotly contested rematch at Leeds’ First Direct Arena.

In doing so, he regained the British and Commonwealth super middleweight titles he lost by tenth-round stoppage on December 20. Simpson made some major changes in the aftermath of his first professional defeat.

The biggest was his decision to start training with the highly respected Rob McCracken.

Things didn’t go perfectly on Saturday night.

Simpson absorbed some big shots from Williamson and was undoubtedly hurt at times but remained upright and managed to maintain his customary high work rate right to the final bell.

In his dressing room post-fight, a relieved Simpson (19-1, 13 KOs) told DAZN although he went through some difficult times after an upset loss, never lacked faith in his own ability.

“I'm always confident. After the first fight, my confidence never left,” he said.

“I knew I had a very off night. I always train hard, believe in my preparation and that's where my confidence comes from.

“I've worked too hard for too long to not be confident and enjoy it. That first loss was horrible but all I can do is learn and get better. That's what I've done and there's a lot more to improve on as well.”

Simpson has quickly developed into one of British boxing's biggest ticket sellers with thousands of fans flocking to his fights at Barnsley’s Oakwell Stadium.

That type of drawing power gives Simpson a real say at any negotiating table he sits at and the aim is for him to eventually fight for a super middleweight world title in South Yorkshire.

Simpson admitted afterwards that he only employed the things he and McCracken had been working on for about “5% of the time” during the Williamson rematch and although the result should see him re-enter the world rankings, made it clear that his immediate priority is to continue learning and improving.

“I'll speak to Rob, my team and Boxxer. Whether it is defending the British and Commonwealth or pushing on, I've got a lot to keep learning so don't want to say anything crazy while I'm on a high but there's so many opportunities,” he said.

“Obviously, I want to be fighting for a world title in Barnsley at Oakwell but that'll probably be next summer so, until then, let's keep on improving and getting better.”